Cambridge voters have preserved the long-standing 5-4 split between independent City Councillors and those endorsed by the Cambridge Civic Association.

A final count of last week's ballots elected all but one of the present incumbents. Andrew T. Trodden will be replaced on the new Council, by William G. Maher, an ex-City policeman who was narrowly defeated in 1963.

Maher was third in the popular vote, following Councillor Walter J. Sullivan and CCA-endorsed Mayor Edward A. Crane '35. The other incumbents were elected in the following order: Alfred E. Vellucci, Thomas H. D. Mahoney (CCA); Mrs. Cornelia B. Wheeler (CCA); Thomas Coates (CCA); Daniel J. Hayes Jr.; and Bernard Goldberg.

Another newcomer almost made the Council. Thomas W. Danehy finished 10th in his first attempt to gain a seat.

The election of Maher ends a two-year controversy over the role of police in politics. Many observers attributed Maher's heavy vote to the publicity he gained from the dispute.

Following his defeat in 1963, Maher was transferred from the detective division to the traffic division. He subsequently charged that the change was a punishment for his political activity. The issue was brought before the City Council at a public hearing, but no action was taken to reverse Police Chief Daniel Brennan's order.

When Maher indicated this summer that he would run again, he asked Brennan for a six-month leave of absence. Brennan refused, and Maher resigned. It is believed that Maher received a heavy vote from police officers and their friends and relatives.

Another factor in Trodden's defeat may have been his chairmanship of the City Council's special Committee on the new $60 million electronic laboratory for the National Aeronautics and Space Admin- istration. The NASA laboratory and a related private development will occupy 42 acres in Kendall Square and displace 94 firms now located there. Trodden was reportedly told by some of his supporters that they would no longer back him because of his pro-NASA position.

The defeated candidate, who is now completing his third term on the Council, indicated last night that he would run in 1967. "I'll be back," he declared.

A significant factor in the election of the CCA candidates, especially Thomas Coates, was the redistribution of ballots from James W. McGovern '64, a 22-year-old newcomer who finished 12th.

Of the 1479 votes McGovern amassed before he was eliminated. Coates got more than 550 and two other CCA-incumbents, Mrs. Wheeler and Mahoney, took 400 between them. McGovern was not expected to give quite this many votes to the CCA candidates because he drew about half of his support from normally non-CCA areas.

Under Proportional Representation, a voter lists his preference in rank order (1.2.3. etc.). The ballots are distributed according to these in the number one position. Only a certain quota -- this year it was 3100 -- is needed for election, and the lowest candidates are progressively eliminated and their ballots redistributed

Gorshon Horowitz, a 24-year old Boston University graduate student who ran for the Council as a protest against the War in Vietnam, ran 19th out of a field of 24. He polled 77 first place ballots and was eliminated on the first cut. The lowest man in the field polled 23 number one votes